Clinton Campaign Caught Planting Questions at Iowa Town Meetings

from AlterNet's PEEK:



Clinton Campaign Caught Planting Questions at Iowa Town Meetings

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise at 5:40 AM on November 12, 2007.


Lindsay Beyerstein: These covert attempts to feed canned questions to audience members differs only in degree from last month's infamous staged FEMA press conference.


This post, written by Lindsay Beyerstein, originally appeared on Majikthise

Hillary Clinton's campaign admitted Friday to planting a question at a town meeting in Newton, Iowa:


SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton's campaign admitted Friday that it planted a global warming question in Newton, Iowa, Tuesday during a town hall meeting to discuss clean energy.

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elliethee admitted that the campaign had planted the question and said it would not happen again.

On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum," Elliethee said. (FOX)


Grinnell student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff told the campus paper that a Clinton senior staffer approached her at Tuesday's event and told her to ask a specific question about the global warming.

Today, a second Iowan came forward to claim that Clinton's people had approached him to ask a question about war funding:


One day after Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign confirmed that a staffer planted a question for the presidential candidate at a recent campaign stop, another person has come forward with a similar story.


Geoff Mitchell, a minister who recently moved to Hamilton, Ill., from Iowa, told ABC News that he was approached this spring by Clinton's Iowa political director Chris Haylor to ask Clinton a question about war funding. (ABC)


Nobody's claiming that Clinton's people coached every single questioner at the event, nor that they sent staffers to impersonate members of the public. However, these covert attempts to feed canned questions to audience members differs only in degree from last month's infamous staged FEMA press conference.

Question-planting subverts the purpose of the Iowa caucuses. These events are supposed to be an opportunity for voters to ask questions of candidates. Candidates who plant questions are hijacking the proceedings and deceiving the public.

Clinton should personally apologize and pledge not to do this again. Her opponents should swear off question-planting as well.

HT: B-Money.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/67592/#more

They PLANT a message..then they PLANT that message again. Then they PLANT that message ten time twenty times. Pretty soon when you go back to the archives out of every 100 messages 80 are the same Hillary bashing post.Gee one thing about Hillary bashers and Obama supporters they are nothing else if not original??...or should I repetitious...over and over and over help help help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, why are you more outraged at someone posting a news article than a candidate using Bush campaign techniques? What Hillary's campaign did is heinous, especially in light of the last 7 years of Bush doing it.

I'm not a supporter of either of them. Try again.

shouldnt we be name calling and not pointing out the news